The present disclosure generally relates to location based services and, in particular, determining the current location of a device.
The current location of a mobile device may be determined based on location data from various sources. For example, the mobile device may use a global positioning system (GPS), cell towers in a cellular network, WiFi access points, etc. to obtain location data to determine the location of the mobile device. The location data from these sources may have varying levels of accuracy. In addition, these sources may have varying levels of availability to the mobile device depending on the location of the mobile device, the movement of the mobile device, and/or the environment in which the mobile device and the sources are located.
A mobile device typically updates its current location based on the most recently received location data. However, the most recently received location data may be from a less accurate source than the current location data that it is replacing when, for example, the less accurate location data is the most recently received location data or when other more accurate sources of location data are unavailable (e.g., the signal for a location data source is too weak or not in range). As a result, the current location of the mobile device may be replaced using location data that is less accurate, even if the current location of the mobile device is still valid (e.g., if the mobile device has not moved a great deal or at all).